Popcorn - Sense Errors /Hardware Errors

I have seen numerous posts on this form with respect to Dual Layer burning. I bought a bunch of Memorex DL DVD's and had no luck with Popcorn. I repeatedly hit Sense errors (Medium and Hardware) during the burn process.

There are a ton of posts that imply either you have a bad burner or the Media is lousy. In general, Memorex doesn't have a great rap.

I dug into this since I am a week away from my warranty expiration and wanted to ensure it wasn't a true hardware issue. I tried using Popcorn 2 to write a disk image and then burn the image however I had errors when using Popcorn to burn the image as well. It was very frustrating as I went through 10 blanks with various experiments.

My final solution that works is:

1. Use Popcorn to write out the disk image file.
2. Use DISK Utility (as Apple program that comes with OSX) to burn the Image file created in step 1.
3. I have done this 11 times now with no errors and the DVD's play in my home players (tested 2 players - JVC and Sony)

Thus, there is a problem with Popcorn. I exchanged emails with Roxio support however they seem unable to offer any real help other than try a different media or your drive is not working. Given I have 11 successful runs, I can't imagine either is the issue and that Popcorn is the cause.

I have seen numerous posts on this form with respect to Dual Layer burning. I bought a bunch of Memorex DL DVD's and had no luck with Popcorn. I repeatedly hit Sense errors (Medium and Hardware) during the burn process.

There are a ton of posts that imply either you have a bad burner or the Media is lousy. In general, Memorex doesn't have a great rap.

I dug into this since I am a week away from my warranty expiration and wanted to ensure it wasn't a true hardware issue. I tried using Popcorn 2 to write a disk image and then burn the image however I had errors when using Popcorn to burn the image as well. It was very frustrating as I went through 10 blanks with various experiments.

My final solution that works is:

1. Use Popcorn to write out the disk image file.2. Use DISK Utility (as Apple program that comes with OSX) to burn the Image file created in step 1.3. I have done this 11 times now with no errors and the DVD's play in my home players (tested 2 players - JVC and Sony)

Thus, there is a problem with Popcorn. I exchanged emails with Roxio support however they seem unable to offer any real help other than try a different media or your drive is not working. Given I have 11 successful runs, I can't imagine either is the issue and that Popcorn is the cause.

Good Luck and let me know if this works for anyone else.

Unfortunately this is an oversimilification of the issue. The media is actually the root cause of this issue. Just because a different burn engine is able to cope with the poor quality media does not mean that the media is not poor quality.

Unfortunately this is an oversimilification of the issue. The media is actually the root cause of this issue. Just because a different burn engine is able to cope with the poor quality media does not mean that the media is not poor quality.

John,

As a consumer wouldn't you prefer the burn engine that could handle most media vs the burn engine that handles only a subset that is only available at double the cost point? I would say that if Apple's burn engine can handle it then it is a software issue pure and simple. If Roxio would like to advertise that Popcorn only works on a subset of media then I would be fine with that however there is no disclaimer to the effect. Furthermore, calling media bad since Roxio's burn engine doesn't handle it when others do seems like point blame away from a low quality burn engine (at least when compared to Apple's).

I am disappointed that Roxio is not looking at this and upgrading the burn engine.

The issue is a problem with the firmware and the media. Memorex media is poor and Apple superdrives are too. If you have a Matsushita drive from Apple, you will have nothing but problems.

Popcorn and Disk Utility work completely different. Popcorn actually sets layer breaks, etc for the DVD. Disk Utility doesn't do this and even if the disc plays in your JVC and Sony, chances are it won't play correct in other players because the disc isn't burned correctly.

I suggest burning at a slower speed in Popcorn or selecting the actual speed to burn at instead of Best. Many drives, especially Samsung drives, have a firmware bug that doesn't correctly detect the media speed at Best and gives an error.

Also, Apple has modified non-stand firmware that just doesn't work correctly. There are lots of speed issues, media issues and format issues with their firmware.

I've burned hundreds of DVD both single and dual layer with out problems. I recommend only Verbatim media for any dual layer burner.

I've had nothing but problems too so I just gave up on using DL discs. I've used Verbatim, Taiyo Yuden, and MAM-A/Mitsui, and I've had the same problem with all of these. I'm going to start trying the guys suggestion in here that seemed to work for him 11 times. This IS a roxio problem and I agree that this should be patched. It's getting real old when all you find posted by companies is "your media is bad, buy a different brand". That's a cop out. If the finder, itunes, and toast & popcorn can burn to any media I put in just fine, why is the same brands "bad quality" just because it's dual layer. This needs to be fixed. Because of this, I'm having no troubles with my decision to NOT upgrade to v3.